Grundy County to hire new technology director, network technician

MORRIS – Calling all technology professionals – Grundy County is hiring a new network technician, as well as a new director for the Technology Department to fill the vacancy left by recently-retired director J.P. Watters.

Since Watters’ departure, Kristen Torkelson and Dan Peterson, supervisors in the tech department, have shared the duties of director.

“We’ve been very busy, but we feel really good about what we’ve been able to accomplish,” Torkelson said. Peterson was out of the office when contacted.

David Welter, chairman of the Technology Committee, said both Peterson and Torkelson are welcome to apply to the position.

Before the announcement, it was unclear whether the county would consolidate existing positions to fill the role or leave the director position as is. Welter said the IT department is working on several new and existing projects and needs a full-time director.

“Since the department was created in the early 2000s, our needs have greatly increased and now every county office is dependent on technology,” Welter said. “There are also many more technology devices to service.”

The job will be posted next week once the county puts the finishing touches on the job description, Welter said.

Once the director position is secured, the county will begin the search for a new network technician, as well, since the department is currently short-staffed.

“Right now our office is myself, Dan and an intern,” Torkelson said. “We really are shorthanded, especially with John’s absence.”

The position was included in this year’s budget Welter said, and the county has already written a job description.

According to the official description, the new technician will “provide basic electrical, mechanical and network communication support, perform related operations,” and “install, support and troubleshoot equipment.”

The applicant should have an associate degree and at least one year of related experience.

The new technician will help with the county’s ongoing projects, including the department’s largest projects of making the government website more transparent. Welter said they are working to include more documents, data and contact information on the website.

“We’ve come quite a long way,” Welter said. “We used to be ranked 90th out of 102 counties for website transparency. Now we are in the top 15.”

The transparency initiative began about three years ago, but the county has much more updating planned for the website.

“We want to get to be number one,” Welter said. “That’s our ultimate goal.”

The department is also developing a Geographic Information System, or mapping system, and drafting a new five-year plan to address the county’s technology needs.

Those interested in applying for either position should visit the Grundy County website, grundyco.org. The director’s position will be posted next week.

The technician position will be posted at a later date, after a director is hired.